We are all Israelis!
This is kind of interesting:
I am trying to decide (or, rather, my anonymous academic "flesh" alter ego is trying to decide) whether to sign this. Is "solidarity" the correct attitude towards Israel? It kind of has the wrong connotations for me. Second, asking to be boycotted requires quite a serious thinking through, and is not to be done lightly, so I think I need to spend a little while deciding... Any thoughts?
Other boycott links: Snoopy on the real face of the boycott movement; Boycotting Israel is moral masturbation; Something Something on double standards; Shalom Lappin's response.
An International Call To Academics and Professionals To Stand In Solidarity With Our Israeli Academic and Professional Colleagues
Written by: Alan Dershowitz, Steven Weinberg, Edward Beck and Members of the SPME Task Force on Countering Academic and Professional Boycotts
June 4, 2007 To: Academics and Professionals Standing In Solidarity With Our Israeli Academic Colleagues Against All Boycott Proposals and Actions
Please Join Us By Signing and Circulating The Following Solidarity Statement With Our Israeli Academic and Professional Colleagues
We are academics, scholars, researchers and professionals of differing religious and political perspectives. We all agree that singling out Israelis for an academic boycott is wrong. To show our solidarity with our Israeli academics in this matter, we, the undersigned, hereby declare ourselves to be Israeli academics for purposes of any academic boycott. We will regard ourselves as Israeli academics and decline to participate in any activity from which Israeli academics are excluded.
Alan Dershowitz
Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law
Harvard University
Stanley Deser
Dirac Medal
Ancell Professor of Physics
Brandeis University
Roald Hoffmann
Frant H. T. Rhodes Professor of Humane Letters
Cornell University
Daniel Kahneman
Nobel Prize - Economics
Professor of Psychology
Princeton University
Eric R. Kandel
NobelPrize - Medicine
University Professor
Columbia University
Steven Weinberg
Nobel Prize-Physics
Josey Regental Professor of Science
University of Texas, Austin
Elie Wiesel
Nobel Peace Prize
Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities
Boston University
I am trying to decide (or, rather, my anonymous academic "flesh" alter ego is trying to decide) whether to sign this. Is "solidarity" the correct attitude towards Israel? It kind of has the wrong connotations for me. Second, asking to be boycotted requires quite a serious thinking through, and is not to be done lightly, so I think I need to spend a little while deciding... Any thoughts?
Other boycott links: Snoopy on the real face of the boycott movement; Boycotting Israel is moral masturbation; Something Something on double standards; Shalom Lappin's response.
Comments
It's certainly a good 'cause', for lack of a better word.
FYI -- I signed the petition you reference in this post, out of desperation because I felt I had to do something and was ashamed I'd not done more to stop what is going on in UCU and elsewhere. For me it was a wake up that my avoidance strategy was so dangerous. So I was hunting around for stuff to do, and no one seemed to be doing anything here in the UK, so I signed this. Only later did it dawn on me that, by its terms, it would mean I'd have to resign if the UCU motion goes through, as I work as an academic at a London uni. I'm happy I did that - it was involuntariliy doing that which I'd avoided doing but should have done, probably a long time ago. Meaning - I feel good with this outcome. Hope that helps you as you work through your quandary. How's it going with that?!